


How To Save A LIfe

by elduderino, khaleesiq



Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, hospital!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-12 17:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elduderino/pseuds/elduderino, https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesiq/pseuds/khaleesiq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn is fascinated by the new nurse Liam, Harry and Louis are bffs who don’t realize they each like each other, no one knows where Niall is except when there is food around. Eleanor is the doctor in charge of training Zayn, who is a resident, and Harry, Louis, and Niall are interns in her department, much to her dismay. Perrie and Jade are residents who just enjoy making out with each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This all started with a joke about sleeping in a hospital closet and being interrupted by two interns trying to hook up. Somehow this happened?? None of it is accurate to how an actual hospital operates and we don't pretend to know anything about hospitals or working in them. Basically, all our knowledge is based off of what we've seen on Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. This is totally just for fun and our own pleasure.
> 
> And, yes, the title is cliche.

Harry and Louis stand in front of Eleanor, awaiting her instructions, while Zayn stands by her side, helping her try to find Niall.

“Where the bloody hell could he be?” Eleanor exclaims, aggravated. “It’s a hospital, it’s not like there’s many places for him to go!”

“Actually,” Louis says, “you’d be surprised.” 

Eleanor shoots Louis a glare before picking up the phone and calls the receptionist, Nick, to ask him if he’s seen Niall yet. She slams the phone in frustration when he tells her that he hasn’t seen him at all today. She turns to Zayn and asks, “Do you have any other ideas?”

Zayn takes a moment to think. “Well if he’s not in the cafeteria and he’s not in the break room then I honestly couldn’t tell you where he would be.” 

Eleanor groans. They had to assign her the damn intern who only cared about food and was rarely where he was supposed to be. Unless he was supposed to be in the cafeteria, he was more than happy to go there. Harry and Louis weren’t much better, either. For the most part they did as asked, but they were also goofing off any chance they could get. 

“If you want I can check in--“ Zayn starts but is interrupted by Niall entering the room.

“Hey lads,” he says nonchalantly, “what’s up?” 

Eleanor storms over to him. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been waiting around for you when we could have been doing something productive, so will you please tell me where you’ve been because I would love to hear whatever pathetic excuse you can come up with this time.”

Niall shrugs. “I was just taking a break. It’s really not a big deal, El.” 

“First of all, I am Dr. Calder to you, not ‘El’. Second, it is a big deal! We have important work to do!” 

“Like what?” Niall says.

“CPR training,” Louis answers for Eleanor. “We get to do mouth-to-mouth on a dummy.” He nudges Harry with his elbow and raises his eyebrows. “Hot, right?”

Harry and Zayn chuckle at that while Eleanor ignores Louis and keeps her attention on Niall who’s shrugging again. 

“See?” he says, “It’s just CPR training, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Eleanor scoffs and crosses her arms. “’Not that big of a deal’? Right, try and tell me that next time a person needs CPR and you’re the only one around to help them and you can’t because you thought that CPR was ‘not that big of a deal’.” 

The four of them stare at her, shocked at her outburst because Eleanor is such a calm and collected person, and although they’ve only been working there for a few weeks and they haven’t known Eleanor for that long they never expected her to get so infuriated over such a menial thing.

Eleanor is still seething when her phone rings and she answers it with an angry, “What do you want?” 

“Oh, er,” Nick says hesitantly on the other end, surprised at Eleanor’s anger, “is this a bad time or…”

Eleanor shakes her head and lets out a breath, realizing how incredibly rude that was of her. “No, no, Nick, it’s not a bad time. I’m sorry, it’s just that someone,” she gives Niall a pointed look, “was getting on my nerves.” 

“Oh, it’s just that Liam really needs to see you about a patient right now,” Nick says.

“Do you know what the problem is?” Eleanor asks.

“No, he just said that you need to get down there as soon as possible,” Nick tells her.

Eleanor sighs. “Okay, tell him I’ll be right there, I just need to know what room he’s in.”

Nick tells her the patient’s room number and she hangs up and turns to Zayn. “Do you think you can train them? One of the nurses needs my help with a patient.”

Zayn nods and says, “Yeah, I can do it, it’s no problem.”

Eleanor lets out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Zayn, you are a saint.” She turns to the three interns. “You three, behave yourselves.” Harry, Louis, and Niall give each other devious looks that they think are subtle, but definitely are not. “I mean it guys; I may have grown used to your antics but I don’t want you scaring Zayn off before he has a chance to finish his residency.”

Louis pats her on the reassuringly. “Don’t worry El- Dr. Calder, we won’t be that terrible.”

Eleanor stares at him. “You mean you won’t be terrible at all.”

Louis rolls his eyes at her. “You say potato, I say pot-ah-to.”

“Whatever, I don’t have time to argue with you, I have to go help Liam.” She opens the door and turns back to Zayn and adds, “If they misbehave don’t be afraid to use the defibrillator on them.” 

Zayn chuckles at her back as she leaves the room and focuses his attention on the three interns. “Okay, er, here’s what we’re going to do--" 

Niall cuts him off, whining, “I’m hungry.”

“You just ate, you wanker,” Louis laughs, hitting him on the shoulder. “But now that you say that I’m kind of hungry too.”

“Listen--" Zayn tries again but now Harry is joining in.

“I’m hungry too, Zayn,” Harry pouts. “We should take a field trip down to the cafeteria and get something to eat.”

Louis snorts. “We’re adults, Haz, we don’t need to take a field trip or permission to get food.”

“You’re so smart,” Harry sighs fondly. “Please tell me everything you know about that magical place called ‘Adulthood’.”

Louis puts an arm around Harry and begins to lead him out the door. “Let me tell you all about it on our way down to the cafeteria. Come join us, Nialler!” 

Niall grins and follows them out, Zayn hot on their heels. “Wait, Louis we can’t--"

“Oh come on, Zaynie--"

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t be such a party pooper!” He opens the door and spins around to face Zayn. “All we’re going to do is get some food from the cafeteria and then we’ll be right back and we’ll do whatever you want us to. I promise.”

Zayn shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Louis, but Dr. Calder said--"

Louis rolls his eyes. “When have we ever listened to Eleanor?”

“Dr. Calder said that I--"

Louis takes a step outside and says, “But she’s not here now is she?” 

“Louis, if you take one more step--"

Of course, the very next thing Louis does is take another step into the hallway, Harry and Niall snickering behind him. “What are you going to do about it?”

Zayn doesn’t know what else to do so he picks up the phone and says, “I’m going to call Dr. Calder if you don’t get back inside this room right now.”

Louis feigns a worried look before bursting into laughter. “Okay, how about you call Eleanor and we’ll go down to the cafeteria and get some food, maybe we’ll even bring you back a little something special for you too.”

Louis runs away, with Harry and Niall on his tail, before Zayn can say anything else to stop them. He rushes out to the hallway, but the three of them are already gone. 

“Fuck,” Zayn mutters as a nurse passes him.

“Excuse me?” the nurse says.

“Sorry, I just--" Zayn stops suddenly because this nurse is insanely fit. He’s tall and has broad shoulders, but soft and gentle facial features that remind him of a puppy. And, shit, he’s got these big brown eyes and he’s staring at him with an appalled expression on his face like swearing is the worst thing Zayn could do in a hospital.

“You just…” the nurse prompts and Zayn realizes that he’s been staring at him for much longer than what’s appropriate.

“I’m just annoyed, it’s nothing,” Zayn tells him.

“Are you sure?” Now he’s looking at Zayn with a concerned expression and Zayn wants to die because who is this guy and how can someone be so adorable yet so fucking hot at the same time? “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

Zayn thinks about shaking his head and telling him that he can handle it himself, but he knows there’s no way he can handle the three of them himself. He doesn’t even know what he was thinking telling Eleanor that he would be fine training them himself. “You like to run?” he asks the nurse. 

He smiles. “I was the fastest runner on the track team in sixth form. So yeah, I love running, why do you ask?”

Zayn grins. “We have to catch some deviant interns before my boss kills me for losing them. So are you up for it?”

“Sure, why not?” the nurse answers. “I mean since your life is on the line…”

“Thanks mate,” Zayn says and sticks out his hand. “I’m Zayn Malik, by the way.”

The nurse shakes his hand. “I’m Liam Payne. So, where’d these deviant interns go?”

Zayn takes Liam’s hand and ignores the way his heart flutters at the touch. “Follow me.

***

They’re sitting at a table in the cafeteria eating crisps. Harry throws his apple core at Louis’ head and then collapses into giggles. Louis throws a crisp at Harry in retaliation.

“Twat,” Louis says, but he’s smiling when he says it.

“You know you love me,” Harry says cheekily. 

“XOXO, Gossip Girl,” Louis and Niall say in unison and then they’re all laughing.

“Okay, so how long do you think it will take for Zayn to get here?” Harry says. 

Louis shrugs. “He knows exactly where we are, so it shouldn’t take him too long to find us. Actually, I’m surprised he hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Then maybe we should take advantage of that,” Harry says, smirking.

Louis raises an eyebrow. “Oh Hazza, are we going to take advantage of our poor clueless friend?” He shakes a finger at him. “Very, very naughty, Harry.”

Harry smiles. “So are you in?” 

“When have I ever turned down an opportunity to mess with a friend?” Louis says and Harry’s grin grows wider. “How about you Nialler?” 

“Hell yeah!” he exclaims and they run out of the cafeteria quickly and go the opposite direction from which they came. Harry leads them back down the hallway they just came from and into the training room.

“What are we doing back in here?” Niall asks.

“We went back to where we came from,” Harry explains. “It’ll totally mess with Zayn and when Eleanor comes back she’ll be mad at Zayn for disappearing instead of us.”

“That’s fucking brilliant, Haz!” Louis shouts and envelops Harry in a hug. 

“I’ve learned from the best,” Harry remarks. Louis hugs him even tighter.

***

Zayn is breathless by the time he and Liam have reached the cafeteria. He looks over to Liam, who looks as though he had just taken a nice stroll. Zayn takes a quick look around the cafeteria, which is mostly empty since it’s after lunchtime but before dinner, before realizing the boys are nowhere to be found. 

“Oh hell,” Zayn shakes his head in frustration, “they said they were going to the cafeteria, where are they!”

Liam pats Zayn’s shoulder as if to comfort him. However, the motion is anything but comforting to Zayn, who feels electrified with every touch from Liam. Zayn has known Liam for all of five minutes, but he's already fallen pretty hard for him. He just hopes that Louis never finds out about this because he will definitely tease him about it.

"Okay, think," Liam says, "where do you usually find them?"

That's a little harder to answer than Liam thinks it is. There are so many random places that Zayn has found the three interns in that's impossible to figure out where they could have possibly gone this time. Zayn rubs his hands over his face and replies, "I bet this wasn't how you were planning on spending your day, was it?"

Liam smiles and shrugs. "I don't mind."

***

After checking literally every single corner of the hospital (or at least, that's what Zayn thinks but Liam tells him that it's highly improbable that they went to every corner of the hospital) they return to the training room to face the wrath of Eleanor.

When they get there Eleanor is in fact seething, but not for the reason Zayn thought she would be. Because standing right behind her is Harry, Louis, and Niall.

"What the hell were you thinking, Zayn?!" she shouts in Zayn's face. Zayn winces because if he thought that she was angry before, it's nothing compared to this. "Running off when you were supposed to be training them? You know, I expect this from those three, but you?" She shakes her head. "I thought you were more responsible than this, Zayn."

"But I--" Zayn starts but Eleanor is far from done.

"If I can't count on you to do a task as simple as this then how am I supposed to count on you for taking care of a patient? And furthermore--"

"It wasn't his fault," Liam cuts in because he can't stand watching Eleanor yell at Zayn for something that wasn't even his fault.

Eleanor stops, surprised by Liam defending Zayn. She's confused by why he's even here in the first place; since when did he know Zayn? "Really?" she says to Liam. "Would you care to enlighten us?"

"Er, well you see--"

"It was us," Louis blurts. Harry shoots him a look that says, What the fuck are you doing? but Louis honestly doesn't care. He just can't stand watching Zayn being yelled at by Eleanor and this poor fit nurse being so intimidated by Eleanor that he can't even speak. And he does feel a bit jealous because Eleanor should only be allowed to yell at them, not Zayn and whoever the hell this lad is.

Eleanor whirls around and stares at Louis. But she doesn't look surprised. "Well, I guess that makes more sense."

Louis places his hand on his heart and looks shocked. "Eleanor--"

"Dr. Calder."

"I am offended!"

Eleanor rolls her eyes. "I'm sure you are Louis. Now," she claps her hands, "let's get back to business. Liam, I gave Molly some painkillers, so she should be fine now."

"Thanks El," Liam says smiling before he walks out the door, much to Zayn's disappointment.

"How come he gets to call you El and we don't?" Harry asks, pouting.

"Because I actually like him," Eleanor tells him which only makes the three of them frown. Eleanor laughs at them and says, "Okay, back to work!"

They all groan in unison.

***

Eleanor is looking for Jade when she runs into Perrie. She stops Perrie because if there's anyone in this hospital who will know of Jade's whereabouts, it's Perrie. "Hey Perrie," she says, "have you seen Jade?"

Perrie shrugs. "She disappeared a while ago, said she needed to take care of some stuff. Which means she's probably taking a nap in the break room. Why do you ask?"

"I just need her to take a look at this file," Eleanor responds and starts for the break room but Perrie grabs her wrist before she can too far.

"I can do it for you if you can't find Jade," Perrie says, looking hopeful.

Eleanor smiles but shakes her head. Perrie's a good doctor, she has to admit, but she can be a bit...unprofessional at times. Not like Harry, Louis, and Niall unprofessional but more like not-serious-enough-about-her-job unprofessional. She makes a mental note to talk to her about that later.

"Why not?" Perrie whines.

"Well, you see..." Eleanor doesn't really know how to put this delicately. Lucky for her, Liam chooses that moment to walk by. "Liam!"

Liam stops in his tracks and looks at Eleanor with surprise. "Yes, Eleanor?"

"Come with me," she says, pulling Liam along with her before he has a chance to say no.

"Er- Eleanor?" Liam says. "Where are we going exactly?"

"Oh, I just had to get out of there before Perrie--"

"Before Perrie what?" Jade says, coming out of nowhere.

"Oh, nothing," Eleanor says and thrusts the file at Jade. "Here, take a look at this file and tell me what you think."

Jade furrows her brow and eyes the file curiously. "What is this for?"

"I want you to see if you can tell whether this patient is suffering from an insect bite or heat exhaustion."

Jade raises an eyebrow. "You don't know? Wow, El, you're a really bad doctor--"

"Dr. Calder," Eleanor corrects. "And of course I know what she has. This is a test, Jade. I want to know if you are able to differentiate between two illnesses with similar symptoms."

"Oh," Jade says, glancing at the file. She takes a moment to scan it and then hands it back to Eleanor. "Heat exhaustion."

Eleanor's eyes widen. "That's... right. How did you do that so fast?"

Jade shrugs. "I don't know. Can I go now?"

Eleanor nods and just stares at Jade's back as she rushes down the hallway. Liam clears his throat and Eleanor jumps. She completely forgot that he was standing there. "Did you see that?"

Liam laughs. "She might become a full-fledged doctor sooner than you think. By the way, can I ask you something?"

Eleanor lets him know that he can ask her anything and heads down the hallway, Liam following close behind.

"You see," Liam says, "I was just wondering why I'm allowed to call you 'El' but no one else is."

"Oh," Eleanor pauses for a second, taken off guard by Liam's question, she had been expecting him to ask a medical question.

"Well," She continues, "I know you had your internship experience at this hospital and even though we never personally interacted, I only ever heard doctors speak highly of you, and I know you respect me."

Eleanor studies Liam, to see if he wants to interject, but he waits for her to finish, and she lowers her voice a bit and leans into him, "Frankly, I don't mind the residents, or even the interns, calling me El or Eleanor, I just get a kick out of giving them a hard time, especially the ones who are always giving me a hard time." She finishes with a smile and a wink, and continues walking.

"Now Liam, this has nothing to do with nursing and was probably never covered in your training, but, I'm going to need you to keep an eye on some of the interns, specifically Louis and Harry."

Liam arches an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Just- watch them, will you?" Eleanor says. Liam is new and probably totally overwhelmed by all his responsibilities and Eleanor doesn't want to scare him off by trying to explain what everyone speculates is going on between those two.

"Sure, no problem," Liam answers and then he asks the exact question that Eleanor had really been hoping he wouldn't ask, "So what exactly is their deal?"

"Don't even get me started."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is purely Larry but we promise that there will be Ziam in the next chapter. Thank you to those who have left kudos and comments, we really appreciate it and hope you enjoy this chapter!

Louis is walking down the long corridor towards the break room. He hasn’t really done anything yet today, just gotten tea for Eleanor, as usual, but still, he figures 10 a.m. is the perfect time to go see what goodies are in the break room. Maybe someone brought in donuts again today. The first time that happened, he and Harry had stolen the box and hid in a closet to eat them all.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen Harry in awhile. He figured he must be running an errand for Eleanor or one of the other doctors. Sometimes Harry would take pity on Zayn and go on a cigarette run for him, even though everyone else disapproved of Zayn’s smoking.

Suddenly though, Louis was being pulled roughly by his arm into a room. He looked at the culprit, Harry, of course. Louis rolled his eyes. Harry was wide-eyed and grinning, which could only mean one thing: he was up to something. 

“Lou, wouldn’t it be the greatest if we wrapped gauze around ourselves and walked around the hospital pretending to be mummies?”

Louis laughed, he enjoyed a good prank or some fun shenanigans even more than Harry did (though Harry was always the ringleader who gave him the ideas), but this idea was downright stupid. It wasn’t even really that funny, Louis was laughing more at Harry’s enthusiasm for the dumb idea.

“Harry that is possibly the stupidest idea I have ever heard,” Louis tells him, as sweetly as possible, but Harry’s smile immediately falters and he begins to make puppy eyes at Louis.

“Please Lou,” Harry is pouting now. Louis hates when he does that, Harry knows that Louis can’t resist his pout.

“ _Harold_ ,” Louis says affectionately, patting him on the shoulder, “we are professionals, we can’t just go around wasting medical supplies!”

He pauses, Harry still pouting at him, then continues, “We can however use toilet paper to dress up as mummies, go see if we can scare some of the residents,” he finishes with a smirk and a wink, and Harry’s eyes immediately light up at the suggestion.

Louis grabs Harry’s hand to lead him to the nearest employee bathroom, so they can put their plan into action. Any real work they have can wait.

 ***

Louis is still holding Harry’s hand when they pass the reception desk. Harry stops abruptly when he sees Nick, the receptionist he has been friends with since uni and has been having casual hook ups with since Harry had started his internship, sitting there, staring blatantly at his and Louis’ interlocked hands. 

“Oh, hey Nick, how’re you?” Harry asks, not dropping Louis’ hand. He and Louis have always been touchy-feely (and Harry absolutely loves it), so if Nick has a problem with that, well he can just fuck off.

Once Louis has realized why they’ve stopped, however, he quickly lets go of Harry’s hand. Harry tries not to look too disappointed at the loss of physical contact between him and Louis. 

“I’m good Haz,”Nick smiles tightly at Harry, then turns to look at Louis, no longer forcing any smile, “Louis.”

“Oh hello, _Nicholas_ ,” Louis sneers at Nick. Only Harry’s _best_ friends can call him Haz. Nick is not one of Harry’s best friends. Not even close. And if looks could kill, Nick would most certainly be dead from the way Louis is glaring at him.

Harry looks between the two, not really sure how to react. He and Louis have always been protective of each other, and he knows Louis gets jealous easily. Even if he and Louis aren’t _together_ together, Harry knows their friendship is one of the most important things in his life. He’s not sure why Nick is acting so coldly towards Louis, Harry isn’t fucking Louis in his spare time. If he was, well, it wouldn’t just be in his spare time, and Nick would definitely not be in the picture. 

“Well, we have a _real_ job to do,” Louis tells Nick, still staring icily at him, “Come on, Harry,” Louis grabs Harry’s hand again and pulls him in the direction they were originally headed. 

Once they’re out of sight and earshot of Nick, Louis drops Harry’s hand, but keeps walking. 

“You know, I really don’t like that guy.”

Harry follows closely behind Louis, “Why? You barely know him.”

Louis stops abruptly, causing Harry to crash into him.

“I just have a bad feeling about him,” Louis looks Harry in the eye, not angrily, but as if he’s been hurt, “And he can’t call you Haz. The right to call you Haz is earned through years of dedication and being a _good friend_.” 

Harry just nods, as Louis turns around and continues down the hallway.

“D’you wanna go get some food from the cafeteria or summat?” Harry asks Louis quietly, since he’s not in the mood to pull a prank anymore, and he sure Louis isn’t either.

“Yeah, I s’pose,” Louis responds, “Think we oughta go get Niall, too?”

Like magic, though, before Harry can reply, Niall appears from around the corner.

“Hey lads, time for food?” He asks, his eyes bright at the prospect. Harry laughs and shakes his head. The way people look at the person they love is the way Niall looks when he is thinking about food. 

 ***

The rest of the day passes by uneventfully. Niall, Louis, and Harry all take as many breaks as possible, like always. When they aren’t trying to avoid working at all costs, though, they actually accomplish their tasks. Separately, of course.

Louis actually helped Zayn complete an appendectomy earlier and he was exhausted by the time he and Harry had made it back to their flat. 

Louis throws himself down on their couch, face in the cushions.

“Har- _ry_ ,” Louis calls out, face still planted in the couch.

Harry smiles fondly at Louis, while he opens the fridge to get a beer for himself. 

“Yes, Lou?” Harry asks, taking a swig of his beer. 

Louis turns his head towards Harry, grinning widely, “Make me dinner?”

“Wish I could Lou, but I’m heading to Nick’s,” Harry takes another swig of his beer, preparing himself for Louis’ reaction.

“Oh. You’re going to _Nick’s_ ,” Louis sneers Nick’s name again, as if there is no other way for him to say it, and turns his head away from Harry to stare at the blank TV screen.

Harry places his beer on the kitchen table and walks over to the couch to kneel in front of Louis. 

“I’m sorry, I know you’re tired after today, but I promise to make you dinner tomorrow night, with all your favorites, yeah?” Harry rubs small circles into Louis’ back, to try and comfort him, and the tension in Louis’ face eases a bit at Harry’s touch.

“Fine,” Louis pouts, “I expect lobster though,” he pauses for a second, concentrating hard, “and steak!”

Harry chuckles softly, “Alright, anything for you,” then presses a light kiss to Louis’ forehead.

Louis sighs as Harry gets ready to leave and he settles in for a night of Netflix and ice cream.

*** 

Nick answers the door to his flat, without bothering to check whom it is, he knows this late at night it could only be one person. 

“Hey Harry,” Nick greets him once he’s opened the door.

Harry breezes past him with a curt “Hey” before helping himself to a beer in Nick’s fridge.

“Rough day?” Nick asks, following Harry into the kitchen and grabbing a beer for himself. 

“What’s up with you and Louis?” Harry gets straight to the point.

“Harry…” Nick begins, not really sure of what to say. For some reason Harry is completely blind to the fact that Louis is in love with him, and Nick knows that Harry is only hooking up with him to get over Louis. Nick doesn’t mind the situation, Harry is a good lay, but he knows Harry’s feelings for Louis are too strong to change because of a casual fuck. He also wishes that both of them would quit being so daft and just admit their feelings to each other already. Nick also knows that Louis is fully aware of what is going on between him and Harry, but it isn't Nick's job to inform Harry of that. Louis is an adult, and Nick is sure that when he's ready he will tell Harry his feelings.

But Harry cuts Nick off before he can say anything more.

“I’d really like it if you two could be civilized, y’know? You’re both my friends so you could at least do it for my sake.” 

“Harry, I know you and Louis are closer than salt and pepper, but that doesn’t mean I have to be friends with him. He doesn’t exactly treat me any better than a piece of gum on his shoe.”  Nick gulps the rest of his beer and grabs another before heading to sit down on his couch. He motions for Harry to join him.

Harry sits down next to him.

“He just doesn’t know you, Nick.”

“And I don’t think he wants to, Harry,” Nick pauses, then continues before Harry can interrupt him, “Can we stop talking about him now? You could be home with him, instead of here with me, y’know?”

Harry sighs, “Yeah, just… forget I said anything.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn and Liam get to know each other a little better.

Zayn hasn't seen Liam since chasing after the three idiots that are Harry, Louis, and Niall. Sure, he's seen him around the halls of the hospital but he hasn't actually spoken to Liam since that day. 

He's on break right now, smoking a cigarette behind the building near the dumpsters when he hears the back door slam open and someone is stepping outside to join him. He doesn't want to sound too cliché, but Zayn swears his heart stop when he sees Liam carrying a huge garbage bag.

"Oh," Liam says, surprised, "hi Zayn."

Zayn nods at him, inhaling deeply.

"Can I just...?" Liam gestures to the dumpster behind Zayn. Zayn jumps out of the way so he can throw the bag in and be on his way- although he really hopes Liam will stay and chat with him.

Liam does stay and chat with him, but not about what Zayn wants to talk about.

"I didn't know you smoke," Liam says and Zayn can tell by the look in his eyes that he's disappointed by this. 

Zayn looks down at the ground to avoid Liam's gaze and make him feel even more guilty about this activity than Eleanor and Louis have already. He mutters, "Does that bother you?"

Liam hesitates before answering with, "Well I'm not going to tell you the risks since you are studying to be a doctor, and it's not my place to tell you that I don't approve, but honestly? It's not my favorite thing in the world."

Zayn smiles at the ground and decides that no one could have answered his question any better than that. 

"I better go," Liam says and Zayn snaps his head up, wishing Liam would just stay here with him a while longer, even of they're not saying anything. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

Zayn nods, a little too eagerly probably but he doesn't care because then Liam's smiling that brilliant smile of his that makes his eyes crinkle at the corners and Zayn's heart hammer in his chest.

"Good," Liam says. "Bye Zayn." 

Zayn spends a few more minutes standing outside after Liam leaves, sucking down the last of his cigarette and thinking of Liam and his perfect smile and his perfect eyes and his perfect arms and just Liam. He doesn't care how sappy and corny he's being about this guy, Liam just has that kind of effect on him.

Zayn stomps out his cigarette and heads back into the hospital. He runs into Niall who's hurrying down the hallway, not paying any attention to where he's going at all. 

"Hey Niall," Zayn greets. "Where're you going?"

Niall calls back to him as he continues down the hall, "I just have to grab some things for Nick. I'll see you later, mate!"

Zayn goes to Eleanor's office where she's sitting at her desk, leaning over someone's file with her lips pursed. She looks up when Zayn closes the door and instead of greeting him asks, "Have you seen Niall?"

"Yeah, he said he has to grab some things for Nick," Zayn answers.

"Oh, well that shouldn't take him too long then," Eleanor says, focusing back on the file in front of her.

"We're talking about Niall Horan here," Zayn says. "Let's be real, it will probably take him forever. But if you really need an intern that badly I can go get Harry or Louis--"

Eleanor shakes her head. "No I have to talk to Niall about something that concerns only him."

Zayn's worried now. If Niall gets fired then he'll only to blame himself and feel guilty about it for the rest of his life considering he's the one who helped him (and Harry and Louis) get this job. "Please tell me you're not firing him."

Eleanor looks up, eyebrow raised. "Fire him? Why would you think that?"

Zayn doesn't want to bad mouth his friend but at the same time he has to point out to Eleanor that he's a terrible intern. Now that he thinks about it, he has no clue how Niall, Harry, and Louis have managed to stay around for so long.

"What else would you be talking to Niall about?" Zayn says instead.

"Food?" Eleanor says and Zayn admits that she's got a point, Niall could go on for days about food. "Trust me, you have nothing to worry about Zayn."

Zayn sighs in relief and changes the subject by asking her whose file she's looking at.

"Some woman came in the other day complaining about pains in their stomach and I'm thinking it's an issue with their gallbladder, but I'm checking their medical history just to make sure it's not something else," Eleanor explains and Zayn nods in understanding.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Zayn asks.

Eleanor smiles up at him gratefully but shakes her head and says, "Thanks Zayn, but I'm good."

"Are you sure you can handle all this?" Zayn says. He doesn't want to mention it, but over the past few weeks he'd been noticing dark circles appearing under her eyes and she's doesn't have as much weight on her bones as she did when he first met her. He's worried that she hasn't been getting enough sleep or enough to eat lately, and that she's choosing to spend her time working rather than staying healthy.

But Eleanor nods and assures him that she's fine and doesn't need his help. She tells him that there's a patient down the hall who could use his help. As he's walking out the door she says, "Oh, and don't get too distracted by Liam."

Zayn whirls around to see her smirking at him. 

"Oh, don't give me that look, Malik," she says. "I'm paid to watch you every second of every day, as if I wasn't going to notice you staring at him from afar."

Zayn blushes. "Is it really that obvious?"

Eleanor rolls her eyes. "You're fine, he's totally oblivious. He wouldn't know that someone liked him even if they said it right to his face."

"But shouldn't nurses be, I don't know, observant?"

Eleanor shrugs. "I have to admit, he is pretty great at his job. And he's like the nicest person I've ever met. He always offers to clean up after a surgery or do all the dirty work that lazy interns don't want to do."

Zayn groans in frustration. Of course, he had to fall for the reincarnation of Mother Theresa. He is so fucked.

***

It's another two days before Zayn has an actual interaction with Liam again, not just brief encounters in the hallway when they have no time for a real conversation.

He's sitting at a table in the cafeteria during his lunch break with Niall, Harry, and Louis when Liam walks in. He looks  aw bit like a lost puppy, wandering around the cafeteria aimlessly, not knowing where to sit.

"Payne!" Louis suddenly shouts and both Liam and Zayn look at him in surprise. But while Liam replaces his surprised expression with one of relief and gratitude, Zayn continues to stare at Louis blankly.

"What?" Louis asks Zayn as Liam makes his way to their table.

"How do you know Liam?" Zayn asks.

"I don't work so what else am I going to do except socialise with hot nurses?" Louis replies grinning.

Zayn wants to retort with something just as snarky, but Liam is sitting down next to him and he feels his face flush. 

"Hey," Liam says to all of them. 

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know you..." Harry says.

"Oh, I'm Liam Payne," Liam says, reaching across the table to shake Harry's hand but Harry ignores  him so Liam retracts his hand. "I'm one of the new nurses here."

"How long--" Niall starts but Harry cuts him off.

"How do you know Louis?" he demands sharply.

Liam looks caught off guard by Harry's tone of voice and Zayn frowns at him. He wants to tell Harry off for being such a dick to the nicest person alive (although he doesn't know Liam well enough to be sure that his kindness and sincerity isn't just a cover and that Liam's not actually a serial killer and he's secretly Ted Bundy in disguise) but he doesn't want to make things awkward in front of Liam.

"We had the same break yesterday and he was fit so..." Louis says smirking. Harry glares at Liam who's ducking his head in embarrassment? Guilt? Or maybe it's because he's blushing? Zayn really hopes that Liam hasn't developed a crush on Louis before he has had a chance to make a good impression on him. And not to mention the fact that Louis and Harry are already in love with each other but just too blind to see it.

"Really?" Harry says, still glaring at Liam, who's still staring down at the ground, probably too afraid to say anything under Harry's stony gaze. Zayn decides to save him.

"Hey Liam," he says and Liam looks up at him and, yeah, he definitely looks like he wants to melt into the floor. "You wanna..." he trails off, not knowing exactly what he wants to do or where he wants to go with Liam, but he's already nodding.

"Yeah, let's go," Liam says with relief. They both stand up but Louis grabs Zayn's arm and pulls him down to his level so he can whisper in his ear.

"Room 305 is empty, just so you know," Louis whispers and Zayn looks at him incredulously.

"I'm not going to fuck him," Zayn says in a low voice.

Louis knits his brow together. "Then why would you leave us?"

"Because you're the worst people to be around when you're trying to impress someone," Zayn tells him, even quieter just to be sure that Liam doesn't overhear them.

"Impress?" Louis says. "Why would you--" Then Louis' lips curl up into what Zayn can only describe as a sinister grin. "Oh, I see..."

"Louis," Zayn warns, "I swear to God if you say or do anything--"

"Do not worry, my dear," Louis says, patting Zayn on the shoulder, but it doesn't make Zayn feel any safer. "I promise I will not do anything to harm your relationship with the fit nurse."

"Yeah, see, you just saying 'fit nurse' makes me think you're not being serious about this."

Louis just grins even wider. "Have fun," he singsongs.

Zayn rolls his eyes at Louis before joining Liam at the door of the cafeteria. Liam's eyes light up when he sees Zayn approaching and it makes Zayn's face heat up. 

"So..." Zayn says for lack of anything else to say.

"Let's go on an adventure!" Liam says excitedly and grabs Zayn's hand, dragging him down a hallway. 

Zayn laughs because, honestly, how can someone so ridiculous in the most adorable way possible even exist? And furthermore, how can someone like Liam even want to around someone like Zayn? 

"Someone's in a good mood," Zayn comments as Liam leads him to the maternity ward (for a reason completely unknown to Zayn, but he doesn't care because Liam is holding his hand, and that's the best thing he can really ask for at this point in their relationship).

"Sorry, I watched The Hobbit last night," Liam says blushing and that just makes him a thousand times more amazing in Zayn's eyes. "I may or may not be totally obsessed with Lord of the Rings."

Zayn wants to laugh because Liam looks seriously embarrassed by that fact, but at the same time he doesn't want Liam to think he's an asshole so he says, "There's nothing to be ashamed about. Actually," he lowers his voice so only Liam can hear, "I'm kind of in love with Green Lantern."

Liam bursts into laughter and Zayn immediately demands, pretending to be offended, "What's so wrong with that?"

Liam shakes his head and tells him, "Nothing, it's just a very...interesting choice."

Zayn crosses his arms and asks, "Oh yeah? Like your favourite superhero is any better."

"I'll have you know that my favourite superhero is better," Liam says.

"Is that so?" Zayn says. "Who is it then?"

"Batman."

"Okay, you win," Zayn admits and Liam grins. "So, Bruce Wayne, where're you taking me?"

Liam looks away from Zayn and realises for the first time where he actually led Zayn. "Oh, I was, er, I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going to be honest."

Zayn laughs. "C'mon, let me show you something." He grabs Liam's hand again and brings him over to a large window. Liam looks through the window and then back at Zayn with a confused smile.

"Zayn," he says, trying not to laugh, "why are we looking at babies?"

Zayn grins. "Because they're fucking cute, that's why!" 

Liam chuckles, and Zayn thinks it may be the most beautiful sound he has ever heard. "So this is what I know about you so far: you're in love with Green Lantern and you like to creep on babies."

"Shut up and look at the babies," Zayn commands him and peers through the glass. Then he looks back at Liam who's smiling at him fondly. "What?" Zayn asks, hoping that Liam isn't judging him.

"Nothing, it's just... I've never met someone who likes to look at babies in the hospital," Liam answers and Zayn starts to get nervous. This is definitely the end, he thinks. Liam's going to think he's a crazy person and they're never going to be together and--

"You're a very interesting person, Zayn Malik," Liam says and Zayn relaxes. He's never thought of himself as an interesting person but if Liam thinks he is, then he's more than okay with that. "But, if you don't mind my asking, why do you do this?"

Zayn shrugs. "I don't really know. I guess it helps me relax and calm down from all the craziness in the hospital. I like to look at them because they're all still so innocent and they remind me of how easy everything was when I was a kid and just... sorry that's kind of weird, isn't it?"

Liam shakes his head. "No, of course not... I think  it's really sweet actually."

Zayn tries to hide his blush but he doesn't think he's doing a very good job. "Thanks. What about you? What helps you calm down?"

Liam opens his mouth to answer but then another nurse comes up to them and tells Liam that he's needed on the fourth floor. Liam gives Zayn an apologetic smile and says, "I'll talk to you later, yeah?"

Zayn nods and tries his best not to look too excited.

***

His phone starts ringing as soon as Zayn walks through the front door to his flat. He picks it up when he sees that it's Louis.

"You do realise that I saw you literally an hour ago, right?" Zayn says.

Louis gets to straight to the point. "Let's go out."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight," Louis says. "C'mon, it'll be fun! A lads' night out, just you, me, and Niall."

"What about Harry?"

There's a pause on the other end. Finally, Louis replies, "He can't make it."

Zayn can tell just by hearing Louis' voice that there's something wrong. "Lou, are you and Harry okay?"

"We're fine," Louis says, a little too sharply, but then he changes the subject quickly before Zayn has time to question it. "So are you in or are you out?"

"That's what she said."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

***

Louis has already had too many shots for Zayn to count and Niall is so far gone that he's up on the stage of the pub doing a very drunken rendition of "Whiskey is the Life of Man.” Zayn is staying sober though, volunteering to be the designated driver since Louis seemed desperately in need of alcohol when they got there and Niall has never been one to turn down a beer. So Zayn's just sitting there, sipping on his Coke while Louis complains about how hard his job is.

"How can it be that hard if you don't even do anything, Lou?" Zayn asks him, laughing.

Louis glares at him over the top of his glass. "Don't sass me, Malik, I'm really not in the mood."

"And why is that, Lou?" Zayn asks, hoping that Louis is drunk enough yet to spill what's on his mind.

Louis smiles and shakes his head. "You're going to have to get me drunker than that if you're going to try and get me to say something." He pauses to take a drink before changing the subject and saying, "So, Zayn, how's Liam?"

"You have your secrets and I have mine," Zayn replies. 

"Oh my god! You two totally fucked in the hospital, didn't you? Please tell me it was Eleanor's office."

"No, we didn't fuck and even if we did he's much too responsible to fuck in a hospital." Zayn says it like he's annoyed by this but it's actually really endearing to Zayn.

"Aw, I bet you want your first time to really special," Louis teases. "I bet you're going to take him out on a nice romantic dinner date, complete with roses and champagne, and then when you take him home--" 

"Would you please shut up, Lou?" Zayn says, laughing. Although now that he thinks about it that does sound pretty nice...

Zayn's daydreaming is interrupted by Louis slapping his arm repeatedly. He grabs Louis' hand to stop him and says, "What is it?"

Louis doesn't answer, he just points at something behind Zayn. Zayn turns around and his heart drops into his stomach. There, at the edge of the dance floor, is Liam holding a girl close and looking at her like she's the only person in the room. 

"I'm sure she's not anybody," Louis assures him, but he still looks doubtful.

Zayn reaches for Louis' drink but Louis pulls it back before he can. "No, no, no, Zaynikins. I don't care how upset you are, you're still the designated driver."

Zayn fishes out two twenties from his wallet and throws them at Louis. "Here's money for a cab. Don't wait up for me."

"Wait--"

But Zayn is already up and heading over to the bar where he takes three shots of whiskey before setting his sights on a tall blonde across the bar. He takes one more shot and then heads over to the guy, hoping that Liam isn't watching.


End file.
